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Recommended Cricket Stores

I thought that it will be a good idea to create a separate thread for the cricket stores that one can avail in order to buy good cricket equipments. I am in the U.S myself and there is a dearth of good, dependable cricket stores. I know many of you have bought your equipments from South Asia, Europe and for that matter a lot of different places in all. How has been your experience with the different shops? Which shops have consistently delivered? Which shops have consistently failed? Which stores are going downhill? Also, there are so many bad online stores which sell fake equipments and people should be warned not to waste their money on them.
I think this kind of information will be helpful for everybody and for specially the new folks who are in the dark as to whom to approach for advices regarding cricket stores.

UPDATE: FOR DETAILED INFERENCES BROUGHT OUT BY ALL THE DISCUSSION IN THIS THREAD LOOK AT COMMENT NUMBER 4.

The later is a new one and is owned by a club cricketer from South Africa who now resides in Texas. I have also heard that Asif Mujtaba now lives in Texas and has some cricket equipment store but i couldn't find one.

Basically it depends on where you are in the US. I am in the midwest so it is really hard to find any cricket equipment store here. If you are in Texas or Cali you may be in luck. Most of these stores are in Texas and Cali.

I usually just wait for my annual trip back home to Karachi to buy cricket equipment.

I have been to Muqueem Sports when they had a workshop in michigan. They only offer online service nowadays. Jason in cricketstoreonline.com is legit and his products are all genuine. He regularly talks to his customers on facebook. I have not had any dealings with desisport.com though.

One shop which I am kind of suspect about is Aamchee cricket; their products and prices are a bit sketchy I feel. Is there anyone who has dealt with them?

Also there is this another online shop called cricketgear.com which looks legit but we might need confirmation from someone who has had dealings with the.

So based on everybody's opinion this is how the list looks like right now:
Shops based in the U.S:

a) Muqueemsports.com --- legit but a little pricey
b) cricketstoreonline.com--- legit; but very expensive; customer service needs SERIOUS improvement; tip: don't e-mail but call them. This review is still incomplete.
c) desisport.com-- legit; very competitively priced; free shipping and a gift on orders over $150
d) aamcheecricket.com-- dodgy; will not recommend them at all
e) cricketgear.com-- looks legit; less options but good overall
f) cricmart.com--- legit; good prices and okay customer service. Communication between them and customer needs improvement.
g)cricketmerchant.com--- looks good; need reviews to clarify.

Shops based in U.K:

a) Mapperley sports-- legit; not sure about their pricing; very helpful customer service; will help you choose your bat personally
b)owzat-cricket.co.uk----legit; good prices; will not send you pics of the bats like Mapperley does.
c) Uzi sports-- legit; many members here have dealt with them
d) Cricketdirect.co.uk-- legit; many members here have dealt with them

Shops Based in Australia:Kingsgrove---legit; good customer service; VERY expensive but you will get good stuff

Shops Based in Pakistan

UT Sports: They do not have a website; great products; good prices; payment through WU if you are not in Pakistan

Keep your reviews and suggestions flowing. I will keep adding to this list.

Last edited by Cover Drive; 14th December 2011 at 04:20.
Reason: Adding to the list

I was actually planning on starting a thread here about different online stores.

1) CricketStoreOnline.com - Avoid this guy! Prior to ordering, I emailed the store owner (Jason) inquiring about how fast they can ship the order if I place it today. This was last week. He emailed back saying, next day. So I placed the order and my money was immediately taken out from the credit card. Few days go by and I emailed him again, no response. Then I emailed again because he said his daughter was sick or something like that. I emailed him again this Monday and he assured me it would be shipped next day. I couldn't have stressed enough about the fact that I need the gear for my match on the weekend. Anyhow, long story short, 1 1/2 weeks had gone by and the guy doesn't even bother telling me that my order is still waiting to be shipped. I finally cancelled the order yesterday after patiently waiting and the guy didn't even bother to apologize until I posted on his facebook.

I ordered from Jason because I read all the good reviews on his store and facebook page. I tried sharing my horrible experience and he was quick to remove those. So don't be fooled by the good reviews you read.

To sum it up, HORRIBLE Experience with CricketStoreOnline.com - I have 2 matches this weekend and no gear. I hate borrowing other people's gear.

2) DesiSport.com - Last time I ordered from these guys, it was about 4-5 years ago. The pricing at that time was decent and the gear was 100% legit. I actually ordered a lot of stuff for our entire team. The issue was that their gear was stuck in customs or something.

To sum it up, it wasn't a bad experience. Just a heads up about the time-frame.

3) CricMart.com - I placed an order with them yesterday after my horrible experience with Jason from CricketStoreOnline. So far their prices are reasonable and competitive. My order shipped today after 1 day. That's super-fast turn-around time!

Turns out I only received partial items from the order. There are some products missing. I have called and email the company. So let's see what happens..

I will edit this post later on once I get my gear from cricmart.

4) Mapperley Sports - Ordered a bat from Michael and his service is A+. He answered all my questions. Sent the pictures of the bat before I agreed to purchase so I knew what was coming. Shipping was super quick. He shipped it on Tuesday (UK) and I got it on Thursday (USA).

1. Batsandmore, Armie. I ordered few pairs of gloves from him and he is a top bloke. When I ordered gloves he took time due to work and family commitment and I respect that. His products were legit and he replies to all of the emails and inquries.

2. SailkotShop, Bhasarat Ai; Another top bloke, ordered team uniform and they were made in 4 days. The quality on them is as good as original stuff and price for the kits was very good too! So definitely recommended!

3. UziSports, Asad Bhai! Have bought a lot of stuff from him and he is very good guy and replies to all emails and send pictures of the product prior to shipping them. So he is highly recommended too, oh the product quality is very good too especially bats!

4. Mapperly Sports, Micheal ; Havent spoken to him directly but very good guy, very fast shipping and sends stuff quickly too! His product are top notch and he is very friendly and honest person so definitely recommended.

5. OwZat, mate ordered stuff from him for me so everything is in good nick! But I don't rate them as good as Mapperly Sports because Micheal and Asad Bhai email pictures of the product before sending them while OwZat doesn't.

6. KingsGrove in Australia, good guys and JN1301 is top guy and very helpful too! Havent seen the products yet as they are in customs but people are good so recommended but prices are steep!

I would request ExtraCoverDrive to tell us more about CricketStoreOnline as he has dealt with the few times.

Thats it for now, bear with me if there are any grammatical or spelling errors

I agree with Adil that cricketstoreonline has the worst customer service. He is extremely annoying as he takes time in responding to emails and the worst thing is if he misinforms you, he would not apologize and would act rude. For instance, I ordered my helmet and he mentioned I wont be charged more than $15 by UPS but ended up paying $29 and when I emailed him and mentioned that I would not recommend you, instead of apologizing, he started being an a** that I will not consider giving you any discount or credit.

One more case, a friend of mine (CD knows him) order blade 950 and requested pictures before shipping. The bat in that picture was awesome but the one he received was different and plank. This shows the guy is absolute joke. Dont buy from him!

Yup... I am the guy who got duped for a plank blade 950 that cost me 500 bucks plus.
But as far as Jason goes, people have the wrong impression of him, albeit he is the only guy I ever dealt with directly. So maybe I am wrong. But from my experience, I got the blade and the hero helmet and I can safely say that he is a cool dude. He just doesnt know his stuff like the guys at mapperley or other sport stores. But as far as customer service goes, if you're not too demanding, he's a pleasure to talk with.
He did however send me the pictures of the wrong bat. It could've been a one off mistake or he did it intentionally.
But as far as equipments go, he's been very reliable so far.
However, I wouldn't trust him with bats, just equipments

Oh man, that is just not right. You know I told the guy I live and breath internet marketing and if I wanted (if I was an a***le) I would ensure that my experience was plastered everywhere on the internet so people knew not to order from him or atleast think twice.

I wasn't too demanding. I myself run several ecommerce stores so I know what good customers are like. My stuff was supposed to be delivered as of last week and even this week there was no update. His excuse came down to that the supplier was the issue. When we have any issue where an order is delayed even by ONE (1) day, we email customers or call them to update.

To add insult to the injury, he admitted that there was a lengthy delay but any normal person would atleast apologize for it. To me he sounded a like a jerk on the phone that's why I went ahead and cancelled the order.

Lastly, if you read reviews of the stuff he sells on the website, majority of them (95% or more) say that he has fast shipping and good customer service and all of them are listed as unknown. My feeling is that he just writes the reviews himself (FTC?)

Look at cricmart. I ordered on Thursday evening. The guy shipped it on Friday and I will have the stuff on Tuesday.. this is standard shipping by the way...one word for cricmart.com - WOW!

Yup... I am the guy who got duped for a plank blade 950 that cost me 500 bucks plus.
But as far as Jason goes, people have the wrong impression of him, albeit he is the only guy I ever dealt with directly. So maybe I am wrong. But from my experience, I got the blade and the hero helmet and I can safely say that he is a cool dude. He just doesnt know his stuff like the guys at mapperley or other sport stores. But as far as customer service goes, if you're not too demanding, he's a pleasure to talk with.
He did however send me the pictures of the wrong bat. It could've been a one off mistake or he did it intentionally.
But as far as equipments go, he's been very reliable so far.
However, I wouldn't trust him with bats, just equipments

I'm not sounding rude but is Jason doesn't know stuff like Mapperly then why start a cricket equipment store?

As I have told you many times if I was in same boat as you I would never even bring name of Jason or his store on my mind after spending five bills on a dud!

Sending pictures of wrong bat and sending a different bat is a big thing, you're a good guy hence you're not saying anything to him and he is taking advantage of you. I bet if it was someone else they would have knocked his head off!

I agree man. If I were I would head down to the local county court and file a lawsuit in small claims court. I have done this many times against different companies.

I have experience in legal area and I never like to be taken advantage of. Since you didn't do any thing, you are probably a good guy as Cover Drive mentioned but remember one thing bro..if he is taking advantage of, there is a good chance he is taking advantage of others as well and ripping someone else of....

That's what I keep in my mind always..don't let someone else fall prey to suckers who screw other people..

It's interesting to note the poor customer service of cricketstoreonline. The owner Jason is always on facebook and the general impression is that he is always reaching out to his customers. I actually just sent one of my banged up bats to him for repairs--let's see how the process unfolds.

OwZat, mate ordered stuff from him for me so everything is in good nick! But I don't rate them as good as Mapperly Sports because Micheal and Asad Bhai email pictures of the product before sending them while OwZat doesn't.

Josh, whats the reason for prices being so high in Oz. Also I have heard SA aren't too cheap either, why is this.

Thanks.

i think the real question is why is everything in the us so cheap! ahah, to be honest i dont actually know why au is so expensive, my opinion is due to the population difference. australia has around 25million atm so the market isnt getting much income compared to the us market which has a much larger population

i think the real question is why is everything in the us so cheap! ahah, to be honest i dont actually know why au is so expensive, my opinion is due to the population difference. australia has around 25million atm so the market isnt getting much income compared to the us market which has a much larger population

Its all about the currency value. Australia has a strong currency and demand is high over there so prices are high because goods are inelastic, meaning companies can push up prices since people don't have much choice to buy elsewhere.

Its all about the currency value. Australia has a strong currency and demand is high over there so prices are high because goods are inelastic, meaning companies can push up prices since people don't have much choice to buy elsewhere.

hm you could be right because au currency is very stable and 1 au dollar is around 1.08 us dollars

Anybody know if you could demand another bat(with higher gains) if you dont like the one in the image you are sent by Uzi sports?

Yes, it's not certain that you get the bat pictured. Email them and he'll come up with something

Originally Posted by Waleedk11

Its all about the currency value. Australia has a strong currency and demand is high over there so prices are high because goods are inelastic, meaning companies can push up prices since people don't have much choice to buy elsewhere.

Studying economicsbeh? MashAllah a very good post.

Just to add to Khalids post in Australia you don't have enough supply I would say. English bats are imported and from what I have heard taxes are high in Australia so they end up paying a lot in tariff.

Yes, it's not certain that you get the bat pictured. Email them and he'll come up with something

Studying economicsbeh? MashAllah a very good post.

Just to add to Khalids post in Australia you don't have enough supply I would say. English bats are imported and from what I have heard taxes are high in Australia so they end up paying a lot in tariff.

Thanks Coverdrive. Yes I do study Economics, a bit obvious with the language used

i have, and i had a great experience.. mainly because my father works at the international airport and is the supervisor of customs and declarations so getting my stuff was fairly easy. ahah i have mates that have done it before so ill ask them for their experience on the matter for you

i have, and i had a great experience.. mainly because my father works at the international airport and is the supervisor of customs and declarations so getting my stuff was fairly easy. ahah i have mates that have done it before so ill ask them for their experience on the matter for you

Thanks for that mate.

Im trying to buy couple of bats from England and I am worried about quarantine fee, since it is a wood product.

The fee is like $90 for half an hour inspection and was wondering, whether you had a pay that inspection fee too?

I was told by AQIS that if the bats come via a courier, then there will be inspection fees, since the bats are a timber product, but if they come via post, there will be no inspection fee, since AQIS have inspectors at the airport to inspect the items.

Im trying to buy couple of bats from England and I am worried about quarantine fee, since it is a wood product.

The fee is like $90 for half an hour inspection and was wondering, whether you had a pay that inspection fee too?

I was told by AQIS that if the bats come via a courier, then there will be inspection fees, since the bats are a timber product, but if they come via post, there will be no inspection fee, since AQIS have inspectors at the airport to inspect the items.

Im trying to buy couple of bats from England and I am worried about quarantine fee, since it is a wood product.

The fee is like $90 for half an hour inspection and was wondering, whether you had a pay that inspection fee too?

I was told by AQIS that if the bats come via a courier, then there will be inspection fees, since the bats are a timber product, but if they come via post, there will be no inspection fee, since AQIS have inspectors at the airport to inspect the items.

Is that true?

These bats will be for my personal use, Im in Perth btw

-------------------------------

If AQIS say that, then it is probably true. as for me, i did have to pay the fees, dont remember how much though cos it was quite a while ago. they will keep your bats for up to 14days btw.

Kingsgrove is a rort lol, they used to sell the CA 12000 LE for $750 ($800 US)!!!

They're very reliable but I'd only ever buy equipment from them, bats are extremely overpriced (they're very popular too, profit margins must be through the roof!). They have a strong advantage in that they're the only proper cricket store running in their state, so everyone goes to them. I don't know why they stopped selling MB though, I used to go into the shop just to admire the bats

ahaha thanks CD! i do enjoy answering questions relating to cricket cos that is my job..ahah and i agree, prices at kingsgrove are pretty high but thats like every store in australia

It is like that because suppliers in Australia are like a cartel particularly GN and Kookaburra, the top of the range bat trade price to retailers is around $300-$350 retailers in Australia normally double it.

Kingsgrove buy imported bats and hike the price up 2 to 3 fold purely because they can. Remember guys, most customers are nowhere near as educated as you forum members are and when they buy a bat they head to their local retailer and hand over the cash without thinking twice.

The cricket equipment industry in Australia is much larger than the US purely by the number of registered players in Australia so you can not judge the industry size by population alone

Yeah, I've dealt with them once. They're not bad at all, but there is nothing extraordinary about there service. The bat (GM Flare Original) came in a week I think, as they said it would, and the bat goes pretty good. So overall they're a pretty good company I would say.

Remaining stuff arrived after I contacted Arul who runs the site. He was pretty quick in shipping the remaining items. I also needed another helmet so I went ahead and ordered that. There was an attempted delivery today which I am guessing was for the helmet but since I had not been provided with the tracking info, I wasn't aware that it was coming today.

In conclusion, I would rate them 3.75 out of 5. They are certainly better than others in terms of shipping the products. But the lack of communication from these guys is just as bad as the other stores.

By the way CD Bhai, I recommend that we should close this thread and start another one (I will be happy to start it) and reserve the first few posts in the thread and do a detailed review for each of the stores. My feeling is that people will have to read the entire thread to find the review they are looking for..

By the way CD Bhai, I recommend that we should close this thread and start another one (I will be happy to start it) and reserve the first few posts in the thread and do a detailed review for each of the stores. My feeling is that people will have to read the entire thread to find the review they are looking for..

Sure go ahead bhai, any ideas you get don't ask me just start and post them yaar

One of my teammate got his bats handle replaced from Bedessee Sports and they didn't put the handle properly.

shoot!! I had asked Jason of cricketstoronline to repair my bat handle and he had asked me to send it an address in Brooklyn which I later found to be that of Bedessee.......just to add, I have been e-mailing Jason for the last two weeks about the repair and he has not yet replied!! crap....

Remaining stuff arrived after I contacted Arul who runs the site. He was pretty quick in shipping the remaining items. I also needed another helmet so I went ahead and ordered that. There was an attempted delivery today which I am guessing was for the helmet but since I had not been provided with the tracking info, I wasn't aware that it was coming today.

In conclusion, I would rate them 3.75 out of 5. They are certainly better than others in terms of shipping the products. But the lack of communication from these guys is just as bad as the other stores.

shoot!! I had asked Jason of cricketstoronline to repair my bat handle and he had asked me to send it an address in Brooklyn which I later found to be that of Bedessee.......just to add, I have been e-mailing Jason for the last two weeks about the repair and he has not yet replied!! crap....

Just FYI for everyone. 90 % online retailers in US they get their stuff from bedessee (NY). Some of the batmakers and equipment makers will only sell stuff to Bedessee. So when you order stuff from Jason, cricmart, guy in houston most of the time they get theirs from NY.

Has anyone had any dealings with Bedessee sports? They are huge and are based in Brooklyn, NY.

He is the biggest wholeseller in North America. If you are in NY then it make sense to go there and pick your stuff. But if you ordering online then just order it from cricmart or jason...you ll get it cheaper from them (probably save $10 to $20 ). Bedessee sell cheaper to smaller retailers and prefer consumer to go them directly.

For some pakistani bats and indian bats these online retailers may have their own connection. But bats like GM and others they all getting it from bedessee.

If you have enough $$ you can have your own online setup and contact bedessee and get stuff from him and sell it with some profit .

He is the biggest wholeseller in North America. If you are in NY then it make sense to go there and pick your stuff. But if you ordering online then just order it from cricmart or jason...you ll get it cheaper from them (probably save $10 to $20 ). Bedessee sell cheaper to smaller retailers and prefer consumer to go them directly.

For some pakistani bats and indian bats these online retailers may have their own connection. But bats like GM and others they all getting it from bedessee.

If you have enough $$ you can have your own online setup and contact bedessee and get stuff from him and sell it with some profit .

Thanks xbox. Bedessee is the only authorized distributor of CA products in North America.

Very interesting info xbox bhai. I have a business license and have often thought about starting an online store for cricket equipment ...I run several retail websites but none for cricket or sports and have been doing research about who the suppliers are in the USA so maybe I can get in the game and start providing some quality service.

I will contact Bedessee and see what can be cooked up

One thing is for sure. If I move forward and set something up for selling online, you guys will be getting your gears for a very good discount ;)

Adil you are welcome. All you need some capital and provide good customer service you can run these other guys out of business. Problem with selling cricket equipment in US is that you can't have that as your only income. That is why when these guys start they are very enthusiastic but after few months and in some cases few years...they don't pay that much attention to it because there is not enough money to make in it.

Adil you are welcome. All you need some capital and provide good customer service you can run these other guys out of business. Problem with selling cricket equipment in US is that you can't have that as your only income. That is why when these guys start they are very enthusiastic but after few months and in some cases few years...they don't pay that much attention to it because there is not enough money to make in it.

Yup. I agree. The market is not that huge. If I were to guess, I would say 25k to 35k people play in USA.

The advantage I have is: 1) I already am in the business of selling online so I know A to Z about retailing on the net. 2) I have access to capital, platform, staff, business licenses etc.

The only issue is that you have to have access to suppliers who have inventory. Bedessee seems like one. I know there is someone else also based out of NJ but not sure who or where.

Reasonably priced from my point of view here in the UK, not too sure about USA though. Very good inventory including some older model bat if you like a particular bat from the past but its a shame they are still priced at RRP.

Thanks Waleedbhai. Yes their prices are reasonable with free shipping on orders over a certain amount; they have a contact number and address which usually means they can be trusted. I wish there was someone in this forum who has had some dealings with them personally so that we can add to the above list.

Alright guys--- anyone here who has bought bats from cricketdirect.com and prodirectcricket.com? Could you please share your experiences for the benefit of this thread?

i have dealt with cricketdirect before, hm, they respond to your emails fairly fast, they dont show pictures of the bats that you want though and shipping takes quite a while, oh and good prices as well

ProDirectCricket- Just ordered a anti-scuff sheet from them on a Tuesday, got an e-mail saying it would arrive on Thursday, no sign of it on Friday, phoned them up to ask what was up, they told me they had JUST dispatched it. And I needed it for the match next day. :******: